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 MSN gives away Mobile Messages, Winks and prizes
MSN gives away Mobile Messages, Winks and prizes

dwergs says ( 09 Dec 2005 ):

 

Heads up, freeloaders! MSN UK is giving away 10 credits for MSN Mobile Messaging to the first 5,000 people who register for the offer here (credit card required, not billed). With these credits you will be able to send SMS messages via MSN Messenger to your contacts' mobile phones. This limited offer is only available to Passports from the United Kingdom.

magic msn searchA bit lower on the world map, in France, the Magic Search contest gets another sequel. In this Christmas edition you get a chance to win sublime prizes like an Xbox 360 with a complete home cinema set, portable dvd players, digital video & photo cameras and MP3 players... As usual, Magic Seach is only available in French and to French people, but everyone worldwide can aspire for the free Magic Search Demon Wink which is given away every minute. Just go here and wait for the search query to appear automatically. Then hit the "Rechercher" button, and click "MAGIC SEARCH cliquez ici" in the sponsor box at the results page. You will be redirected to the main Search page again and should the image to the right of this post appear, you've won. If not, just keep on trying...



 You should've been there...
You should've been there...

dwergs says ( 08 Dec 2005 ):

 

Yesterday several MSN team members met with a couple of MSN Messenger enthusiasts in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, none of us was able to make it, but shortly after he arrived back in Belgium CookieRevised already wrote a quick report about the meeting here (click here for a group photo). Another report by Juzzi can be found here. Answers to the questions we called for on Tuesday will follow later!



 Windows Live Local into Public BETA
Windows Live Local into Public BETA

dwergs says ( 08 Dec 2005 ):

 

Today brings the public BETA launch of Windows Live Local, an online local search and mapping service powered by Microsoft's mapping and location platform, Virtual Earth.

An interesting feature are the Pushpins that can be used to add custom notes on the map, and can be shared with others through e-mail, MSN Spaces (or other blogs) or MSN Messenger. But the visually most striking new feature is a new 45-degree Bird's-Eye View of major U.S. cities including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Too bad it's not "live live", or we'd had a handy, free espionage tool at our disposal.

>> Where's your house at? Find it with Windows Live Local.



 Microsoft fined $32m, ordered to remove WM from XP
Microsoft fined $32m, ordered to remove WM from XP

dwergs says ( 07 Dec 2005 ):

 

We've been following the adventures of Microsoft in South Korean courts for several years now and today the Korea Fair Trade Commission finally ruled that the company abused its market dominance (by bundling Windows Messenger with Windows XP) and should therefor be fined $32 million.

The company has also been ordered to offer two different versions of its Windows operating system to the South Korean market within 180 days.
One must be stripped from Windows Media Player and Windows Messenger, while the other version must come with links to competing instant messenger & media player products.

Microsoft said it will fight the decision in court.

[commercial break] Good idea, guys! You better spend your money on the Threadless t-shirt sale ($10 or €8 per tee!) ending tomorrow! [/commercial break]

UPDATE: From CNET News.com: The Bush administration on Wednesday protested South Korea's decision. "Korea's remedy goes beyond what is necessary or appropriate to protect consumers, as it requires the removal of products that consumers may prefer," J. Bruce McDonald, deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's antitrust division, said in a statement.

[More info: MSN Money]



 Updated: Windows Live Messenger 8.0.0365
Updated: Windows Live Messenger 8.0.0365

dwergs says ( 07 Dec 2005 ):

 

Patchou and Animefan just reported the private release of Windows Live Messenger 8.0.0365 to both official and unofficial pre-BETA users. No idea on the new stuff yet and judging by the small increase of the build number it won't be much. The team is probably prepping up for the official Windows Live Messenger BETA period starting very soon.



 Got any questions for the MSN team?
Got any questions for the MSN team?

dwergs says ( 07 Dec 2005 ):

 

Scott Swanson (MSN Messenger Platform Planning Team), Todd Biggs (MSN Product Manager) and Joost Bon (MSN Netherlands Manager) are meeting with Dutch World's Best App participants in an Amsterdam café. CookieRevised, TB, Inky and juzzi are among those who will have a few beers with them, but you can also suggest some topics they should throw into the discussion. Do it here.



 .NET Messenger Service goes ballistic
.NET Messenger Service goes ballistic

dwergs says ( 06 Dec 2005 ):

 

As reported by many Messers on the forum and via e-mail, the .NET Messenger Service is being a pain in the dérrière the last few days. Some of you received messages from contacts who appeared offline, while others were unable to send messages to specific contacts. Presently, the service is even temporarily unavailable ("You may be unable to sign in. Please try again later. Last Update: 12/6/2005 10:28:00 AM Pacific Time"). Please be patient while Microsoft tries to glue the pieces together again.



 Quick News: MSN UK moves, Fremont, the never-ending Korean lawsuit, etc.
Quick News: MSN UK moves, Fremont, the never-ending Korean lawsuit, etc.

dwergs says ( 06 Dec 2005 ):

 

- After ten years at msn.co.uk, MSN has today changed its UK domain name to uk.msn.com, in an effort to make their site more accessible to users and increase loading efficiency. Consumers who use several MSN UK services such as Hotmail and MSN Messenger will benefit from easier transition across services without having to log in every time they move to another area of the site. [Source: Netimperative]

- Since Google considers Microsoft their biggest (and wealthiest) competitor, one might wonder if Microsoft will give Google Base a serious blow with its own classifieds service called Fremont. Forrester analyst Charlene Li puts her chips down in favor of Microsoft pointing out the option to restrict listings to the MSN Messenger buddy list: "If you choose the latter, the next time one of your privileged buddies signs into Messenger, they'll see a little alert that says you have a set of golf clubs for sale". But is it really better to sell to friends than to strangers? In my humble opinion, you can never rip off friends ;)

- Talking about integration: starting next week Rhapsody, the digital music subscription service from RealNetworks, will be available within Windows Media Player 10. All part of a US$761 million antitrust settlement between RealNetworks and Microsoft finalized in October, it will eventually be integrated into MSN Search as well as MSN Music and of course MSN Messenger. According to RealNetworks executives on CNET News.com, promotional links inside MSN Messenger and the ability to share music from the Rhapsody library while chatting, will likely appear by mid-2006. Sounds about Live-ish, don't you think?

- Oh, and remember the lawsuit that was filed against Microsoft in Korea YEARS AGO for having Windows Messenger bundled with Windows XP? Well, the Fair Trade Commission said it will finally convene this morning to make a ruling on the loooong-pending case... most likely against Microsoft. End of story? Probably not. The computer giant will most likely appeal, and hoopla, we're off for another decade.



 EXCLUSIVE: MSN Messenger 7.5.0319 QFE Patch
<b>EXCLUSIVE</b>: MSN Messenger 7.5.0319 QFE Patch

dwergs says ( 05 Dec 2005 ):

 

Copypaste kindly pointed us to a leak of the brand new QFE Patch which we announced the other day. The 2.33mb patch updates your MSN Messenger 7.5.0311 version to MSN Messenger 7.5.0319 and comes with the enhancements mentioned in yesterday's post (we're lazy so scroll down).

Because this QFE Patch hasn't been officially released yet and it is thus unsupported by Microsoft, we do not recommend updating until further notice. But I know by now that whatever we got you got to get and put it on you, so here's the link for early adopters anyway:

>> Download QFE Patch MSN Messenger 7.5.0319 (unofficial & unsupported).



 QFE Patch 7.5.0316 old news, newer one being tested
QFE Patch 7.5.0316 old news, newer one being tested

dwergs says ( 04 Dec 2005 ):

 

Many Messers (including Aly Hirani, DN2004 & streather) have reported the leak of the unofficial QFE Patch that updates the latest official MSN Messenger to version 7.5.0316 and deals with sign in issues. We've been told about the following mirrors: #1 (Hades), #2 (168pin), #3 (WhiteShark), #4 (ChimpoUA, Stephen & Nielsie) and #5 (Max & Lance).

But WAIT! A better and more recent QFE Patch, which updates build 311 to 319 is currently being tested and we recommend that you wait until it's being released via the correct channels. Version 7.5.319 improves the sign in process more thoroughly, as well as the error reporting linked to it. Something else that's been fixed is a bug with emoticon shortcuts via the IME (Input Method Editor) in Korea. On a commercial note, the conversation window text ads will show properly on Dynamic Backgrounds from Blue Mountain. Finally, build 319 says goodbye to a bug in a DLL that would make MSN Messenger crash if you unplugged a USB device after running the Audio Video Tuning Wizard on that device.

So just hold on to that 7.5.0311, with its good and trusty Mess Patch, skins and more skins. No need to rush, just like Santa, a much improved build is coming to town!



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